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The Department of the Interior
Big Bad Beast *The Department of the Interior (DoI) has been the arch-villian of the Liaden Universe since the first book -- Agent of Change -- was published about thirty years ago. *There’s only speculation on how this organization began *It's a covert group of fascists based in Liad. A seven-headed-hydra, difficult to eradicate.Ghost Ship *A vast, secret organization dedicated to the ascendancy of Liad, but to the destruction of Liad's clan-based, Delm-led system of authorityCarpe Diem, Trealla Fantrol (Access Grid 703) *They view Terrans as animals and things, using the pronoun "it" for themCarpe Diem *At least one member of the Liaden Council of Clans supports the DoI.I Dare, Daughter of Dragons *The Department, and some Council members, hate [[The Scouts]] : **“There's always been a faction in the Council of Clans that wants to shut funding for the scouts off, or reduce it. Some of them don't want us doing anything that might benefit Terrans..."Breath’s Duty *The DoI (and some Council members) hate [[Clan Korval]] because some have married "mongrel" Terrans and because Korval has too much influence on Liad. **“The Plan encompassed the breaking of Korval. Break Korval and Liad wavered."Ghost Ship, chapter 9 *The DoI utilizes forbidden Old Tech, so [[The Uncle]] and his associates hide from them.Ghost Ship, chapter 11 Access Grid 703 '''The Department of Interior's Mission Statement:''' "Allegiance to a single clan is addiction to an outdated and life-threatening philosophy...Terra seeks to overpower and annihilate us....Several clans have allowed Liaden blood to become diluted and have granted these half-breeds full rights...It is the part of the intelligent person to forswear allegiance to clan, and instead to ally himself with Liad, through this department. It is the prime objective of this department to establish the supremacy of Liad and true Liadens."Carpe Diem, Trealla Fantrol (Access Grid 703) DoI's Adjusted Plan After Korval took out DoI HQ on Liad (see ''I Dare'') the new Commander of Agents, Iridyce sen'Ager, formed a new plan, with three prongs: 1. "Prevent Korval from building a position of strength at its new base, Surebleak, while harrying those of, and those affiliated with, Korval, whenever and wherever they were encountered." 2. "Strengthen the Department...Purchase allies." (seems likely that the FTC (Federated Trade Commision) has sold out to the DoI.Ghost Ship, chapter 17) 3. "Renew and intensify the search for operating Old Technology. Secondary Headquarters must be well defended. Impregnable." "The damned Scouts...[[The Scouts]] would be answered, and fully. As Korval would be answered. And, it would seem, the [[Juntavas]], profit-driven no longer, and allied to Korval through marriage."Ghost Ship, chapter 18 Making an Agent of Change *DoI spies, assassins, and agent provocateurs / political manipulators *The DoI steals people, including [[The Scouts|scouts]] thought eklykt’i, and twists them into mindless "agents of change" through a machine that involves wires in the headGhost Ship. **"Twelve dozen sharp wires pierced her skull and sunk, burning, into her brain. Commander of Agent Iridyce sen'Ager screamed." **"It was thought that, instead of impersonating someone, an agent could become that person ... This could be accomplished by smoothing out the agent's own personality and overlaying a second... When the mission was done, the second personality would be removed and the agent allowed to emerge....It didn't work out very well. The only thing the machine did was eradicate, totally, the prime personality....The person was gone, irretrievably, though the body might live on to a very old age."Agent of Change, chapter 20 ***The wires-into-brain resembles technology used by [[Lyre Institute]] (see Strings, Strands, and Vines in Motion at Splinter Universe) *A dramliza is also part of the brainwashing process (e.g. Tarona Rusk): **"Once the proto-agent is in a malleable state -- confused, in pain, and frightened -- someone with the necessary skill binds them to an...an alternate reality...To a lie...I very much fear that this someone must be one of the dramliz, though I cannot deduce whether she was herself corrupted, or came willing to the work."Dragon in Exile, chapter 11 *The Department's best agents -- including Scout Commander [[Val Con yos'Phelium]] -- are wired with a probability loop in the head.Agent of Change, Carpe Diem *The DoI also steals clanless pilots from The Low Port in Liad, forcing them into agents, technicians, etc. (supposition, based on text)Mouse & Dragon, chapter 33 *If an agent suddenly regains his true mind and memory, or if capture seems certain, death follows: "She accepted the Loop's Final Routine, suiciding to avoid capture."I Dare, Day 51 *The DoI equips their agents with scout-class ships, credit cards, an electronic picklock, explosives, and other assassin's tools (pins, blades, doodads, wire, poisons, little pillows of acid), etc.Agent of Change, chapter 17-18 Korval v DoI Some of this is supposition, based on text, because the Department stays in the shadows *In their milant'i as captain of the passengers, set up by [[Cantra yos'Phelium]] a millenia ago, [[Clan Korval]] protects Liadens *So, when lone pilots started disappearing from Low Port in Liad, Delm Korval [[Chi yos'Phelium]] sent her son [[Daav yos'Phelium]] to investigate, with help from [[Juntavas]] boss Clarence O'Berin. For some years afterwards, it seemed that the kidnapping had stopped, even though they never found the villain.(See The Beggar King in [[The Books (and other stories)]]) *Eventually, the problem in the Low Port started up again, and drifted up to the Mid Port So, Daav investigated Low Port again, but to no avail, nearly dying in the course of the investigation, as he "had a bounty on his head"Mouse & Dragon, chapter 34 **Suppose the DoI was responsible, stipulating that the DoI is the "Someone who is trying to set themselves up as boss" of the Low PortMouse & Dragon, chapter 35 *About eight years passed before Aelliana died. “Things had changed: The ports had grown chancier; Terran ports, if one were Liaden, chancier still. Ride the Luck carried weapons now...The Low Port pushed at its limits, reaching stealthy fingers out toward Mid Port's plump pockets, to the point that the Portmaster fielded more proctors, and the Pilots Guild offered warnings to those newly arrived, on a street-by-street basis.”Mouse & Dragon, chapter 37 *The next we heard of the department was when they subverted [[Val Con yos'Phelium]] ~20 years later.Agent of Change But he won free.Carpe Diem *The DoI incited a civil war on Lytaxin, to break Korval’s oldest ally, [[Clan Erob]] *The DoI attacked Scout HQ at Nev'Lorn (see [[Breath's Duty]]). *DoI sent agents to Lytaxin, to kill or capture Val Con, but they failed.I Dare *[[Clan Korval]] attacked the Department's secret headquarters on Liad, charging them with kin stealing, murder, etc. Backup was provided by [[The Scouts]], the [[Clutch Turtles]], the [[Juntavas]], and [[The Mercs]]. **But some Scouts disagreed with Korval. It caused a schism (see [[The Scouts]]). **Some council members judged there was no DoI, and no just cause for Korval to attack. They banished [[Clan Korval]] from Liad. *Korval moved to the planet [[Surebleak]]. The Department -- a hydra -- sent agents to the planet to wipe out the clan: "Korval must be removed...Clan Korval was, for the first time in the Department's History, disadvantaged. Vulnerable...Korval must not be allowed to gain even a tithe of its strength. If the Department wished to rid itself of this impediment to the Plan, then it must strike while Korval was most vulnerable." *After the Department's strike at [[Jelaza Kazone]] failed, the Commander pulled all her agents off [[Surebleak]] because they lost the element of surprise.Ghost Ship, chapter 35 *The Department has attempted to destroy Korval's reputation as Tree-and-Dragon Trading Company, in some places successfullyAlliance of Equals *The Department has attempted to kidnap or kill [[Theo Waitley]], daughter of [[Daav yos'Phelium]], and to steal or destroy her self-aware ship [[Bechimo]].Ghost Ship, chapter 18 *DoI assassins attempted to end [[Daav yos'Phelium]], off-world, at pod 78.Ghost Ship, epilogue *The battles continue. Val Con's foster-brother Rys Lin pen'Chala is leading a secret mission, with four more freed agents.Dragon in Exile Korval’s Dead Deaths attributed to the Department: *[[Chi yos'Phelium]], Korval herself Mouse & Dragon, chapter 39. The DoI commander reflects on this in the novel ''I Dare.'' I Dare *Sae Zar yos'Galan, brother to [[Er Thom yos'Galan]] *[[Petrella yos'Galan]], eventually, from radiation poisoningLocal Custom *[[Anne Davis]] (supposition, stipulate DoI manipulated Terrans) Plan B *[[Er Thom yos'Galan]] -- he died within a year of his lifemate Anne, due to heartbreak *[[Aelliana Caylon]], lifemate to Daav yos'Phelium. Supposition, since shooter was a tall Terran, and DoI doesn't employ Terrans, but they do utilize them.Mouse & Dragon, chapter 37 *[[Daav yos'Phelium]], attacked by DoI assassins, thought dead at pod 78, "left arm nearly severed, blood sheeting his face".Ghost Ship, epilogue *Jen Sin yos'Phelium -- supposition, as the DoI may have instigated the Clan Wars that put Jen Sin in so much danger, about two centuries ago (see [[Tinsori Light]]) *Numerous deaths to Korval's allies on Lytaxin, as the DoI instigated the civil war that ended before [[Val Con yos'Phelium]] brought Miri to meet her kin.Plan B DoI Commanders *Commander of Agents Bar Vad yo'Tornier, Solcintra -- deadI Dare *Commander of Agents Iridyce sen'Ager -- still alive? Promoted from Fourth Commander position when superiors died Ghost Ship, chapter 4 DoI Agents Incomplete list *agent ter'Fendil -- (first name not found) -- captured, fate unclear I Dare *Beldyn chel'Mara Clan Aragon -- dead. She'd been a scout onceI Dare, Day 51 *Bon Vit Onida -- now free, with coordinates to DoI's Secondary Headquarters. He gladly lost three decades to remove dark seed in his soulDragon in Exile *Claidyne ven'Orikle -- now free, with twin souls (lifemate?). She has the location of the quaternary transfer point and the entry codes, to replace the current Comander of Agents with a freed agent, to shut everything downDragon in Exile *Isphet bar'Obin -- deadNecesity's Child, chapter 37 *Kar Min pel'Mather Dragon in Exile *Karin pel'Nara / Zhena Pelnara -- (see [[Prodigal Son]]) *Melsilee bar'Abit -- deadDragon in Exile, chapter 1 *Osa pel'Naria -- with two other agents (maybe pin'Eport and yos'Vinder) she attempted to kill or capture Theo and Arin's Toss on TokeoportGhost Ship, chapters 16-17 *Operative pin'Eport -- (first name not found) -- hunted Theo (Arin's Toss) and The Uncle's Smalltader on GondolaGhost Ship, chapters 10-11 *Rys Lin pen'Chala -- now free, a member of [[The Bedel]] and foster-brother to [[Val Con yos'Phelium]]Necessity's Child, epilogue *Sye Mon van'Kie -- now free. He has the recall codes for the old machines that have been deployedDragon in Exile *Tarona Rusk -- a dramliz, controlling dozens of dramliz. Now free.Alliance of Equals, chapter 34 *Operative Tir Sha yos'Vinder -- hunted Theo (Arin's Toss) and The Uncle's Smalltader on GondolaGhost Ship, chapters 10-11 *Tyl Von sig'Alda Clan Rugare -- dead *[[Val Con yos'Phelium]] -- now free *Vazineth ser'Trishan -- now free Dragon in Exile References